


Eye for an Eye

by SamCyberCat



Category: Free!
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, post-DTF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-10-06 18:36:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17350454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamCyberCat/pseuds/SamCyberCat
Summary: Rin has a Natsuya-keeps-crashing-at-my-apartment problem and he's open for advice about how to solve it. Which is why he's going to see Makoto today. Although it turns out that Rin might be able to help out Makoto in return.





	Eye for an Eye

**Author's Note:**

> Written for sardborken as part of the Dive into the New Year 2019 exchange. He wanted either SouMako, MakoHaru or NatsuRin, so I ended up ticking two of those boxes by writing SouMako and NatsuRin. Have a great new year, everyone!

Rin kept his shoulders hunched as they went to Makoto's apartment, walking in a way that he knew would put across the message that he didn't want to talk right now. Since Sousuke had known him for almost as far back as they could both remember, Rin knew he'd get the message better than anyone. So Sousuke respected that Rin needed space and walked quietly next to him.

In truth, Rin would've preferred to have made this trip on his own. That was what's he'd arranged with Makoto, but he'd come across Sousuke on the way and Rin wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he'd left Sousuke to get lost, so he'd insisted that Sousuke tagged along.

“This is Makoto's place? Looks nice,” Sousuke gruffly commented, when they'd arrived outside the apartment block.

“It's an apartment, just like any other,” dismissed Rin, “But I bet it's a damn sight more peaceful than my apartment is right now...”

Sousuke chuckled; “Still having your little problem then?”

“Ugh. It's not funny. But yeah, that's exactly why I've come here – thought Makoto might be able to shed some light on it,” said Rin.

With that, the two of them made their way up the complex to Makoto's apartment. Rin buzzed impatiently at the doorbell until Makoto answered it, looking all flustered. Though it wasn't as if they weren't expected (or at least, Rin was expected), so he raised an eyebrow at Makoto's dishevelled appearance. Shouldn't he have been ready ages ago if he knew he had someone coming over?

“Hey Rin- ...and Sousuke! H-hey...! Good to see you both, come on in... haha...” Makoto stammered, stepping aside to let them through, “Please, make yourselves comfortable. I'll have you a drink ready in a moment. Rin, I know your preferences, but d-do you take... uh, tea or coffee, Sousuke?”

“He'll have a cola, if you've got one,” said Rin, before Sousuke could reply, “Is everything okay, Makoto? You seemed fine when I called you earlier.”

“Everything _is_ fine, no need to worry...!” The fact that Makoto's voice cracked as he said this made it seem less likely; “I'll, uh, bring you both your drinks in a minute...!”

With that, he left them both and dashed off into the kitchen. The living room they'd been left in was filled with awkward silence as a result. Rin saw Sousuke looking through into the kitchen where Makoto had disappeared and shook his head.

“No idea what's got him so worked up. You wait here and I'll go talk with him,” said Rin.

He pressed through to the kitchen, ignoring that Makoto had essentially just ran off from him. The sight that greeted him was Makoto standing with his hands on the counter, shaking slightly. Two cans of cola sat on the counter, having just been removed from the fridge (or at least Rin hoped they had, since the last thing anyone wanted was warm cola).

“Those drinks sure take a while to prepare, huh?” Rin said, with a nod towards the cans.

Makoto rounded on him, suddenly looking a lot sterner than he had done through in the living room.

“Don't get like that, Rin. You told me you were coming to ask my advice about something, but you brought Sousuke with you,” Makoto hissed, sounding most unlike himself.

“Is something wrong with Sousuke?” Rin asked, feeling defensive in return, “I thought you guys got along well enough. You seemed over the moon when I told you his surgery was a success and he's told me that the two of you have been calling each other more lately. What's the deal, Makoto?”

“I do like Sousuke...” Makoto said through gritted teeth, “That's the problem.”

“Huh? Oh... you mean- ...Oh! What, really?”

Rin couldn't stop himself from laughing, as Makoto tried to shush him into silence. If he kept this up, then Sousuke would surely come through from the living room to ask what was going on. So for once, Rin obliged. Still, he was tickled by the discovery, wiping a tear from his eye before he went on.

“So you like Sousuke? As in, you have a thing for Sousuke?”

“Say that a bit louder and he might hear you...!”

“All right, all right. But what's the problem here? If you like Sousuke, then shouldn't you want him to know?”

If this was Rin, then he wouldn't hesitate to tell someone about his feelings for them. But Makoto was a different kettle of fish. As soon as he started shifting nervously, Rin knew that the boy had it bad, but Makoto didn't know what to do.

“I'm not sure that Sousuke would like me like that...” said Makoto.

“I dunno, every time I've talked to him since I got back to Japan, you make it into the conversation somehow,” Rin said, “It's safe to say that you're on his mind and not for any bad reasons. Got to be worth a shot, right?”

“But what if-”

“-You'll keep asking yourself that forever, if you're not careful,” Rin scolded, “But how about this – you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. I'll give you advice about Sousuke if you give me advice about... Natsuya.”

“Natsuya?” Makoto echoed, confusion having replaced his nerves, “You have a thing for Natsuya?”

“Nooo! It's the opposite of that!” protested Rin, “Look, bring those colas through to the living room and I'll fill you in. Sousuke will come in here if we make him wait any longer.”

Before Makoto had a chance to protest, Rin marched back through to the living room and plonked himself down on the comfy seat, leaving the only other available space for Makoto to sit be on the sofa, next to Sousuke. See, Rin was good at this. He watched in smug satisfaction as Makoto gingerly took a seat next to Sousuke, who was already manspreading in his usual fashion.

“Here's your cola, S-sousuke...” said Makoto, putting both cans down on the table.

“Thanks,” Sousuke replied. He opened the can and downed half of it in one go; “This is good.”

As if Makoto had personally made it instead of buying it at a store. Rin rolled his eyes, but he wasn't going to let these two and their awkwardness get in the way of why he'd come here.

“So look, let's get to the point – Natsuya. You knew him from middle school, yeah?” he said.

“He was our senior in the swim club,” said Makoto, “We learned a lot from him and Nao, but then he sort of disappeared off the radar after that and... well, you know how that story went. I didn't even know he was a world traveller until he came back to Japan.”

“Yeah, and that's the problem,” Rin sighed, “He's supposed to be a traveller, but I can't seem to get him to leave.”

“What do you mean?” Makoto asked.

“Ugh... look, you know how we met in Australia and he was trying to... I don't know, tempt my coach into teaching him or something? Well, we hung out together a lot back then and I think he got it into his head that we're close or something,” said Rin, “I'm back in Japan for a while now, so I've rented out a place to stay. One day he just turned up on my doorstep and... that was it. I can't get him to leave.”

“So Natsuya's couch-surfing at your place?”

“I wish! He insists on sharing a bed with me and the guy snores. Loud. I haven't got a single night's sleep since he got here. So forgive me if I seem cranky, but your old middle school senior is the reason to blame for that,” said Rin.

“Ah... I'm sorry to hear that Natsuya's being so unreasonable. Can't you just ask him to leave? Politely explain to him that he's outstayed his welcome,” Makoto suggested.

“Rin's already tried that. And not politely, that's for sure,” said Sousuke, “He even had me try to tell him to go, but Natsuya just laughed and cracked open another beer.”

“Oh dear...” mumbled Makoto.

“From your tone of voice, I'm guessing that you can't help me either,” said Rin.

“No, I... might be able to help,” Makoto said, “Natsuya's always been very close to Nao. I'm not sure if you know him? Anyway, Nao is often the one to make Natsuya behave when he starts acting up like this. I'm sure that if you told Nao about your situation, that he'd help you out.”

But hearing that had given Rin a much better idea than just calling this guy to ask him for help. So Natsuya listened to Nao, huh? Yes... Rin could use that.

“Sounds good. Do you have his number?” he asked.

“Yes, of course. I'll just write it down for you.”

With that, Makoto took out his phone and scrolled down to Nao's name, before pulling a notepad and a pen towards him across the cluttered table and writing out the number. As soon as he'd finished, Rin jumped up from his seat and snatched it.

“Thanks for this, Makoto! You might've helped me get my ticket to a good night's sleep, so I can go back to being the Rin you all know and love,” he chimed.

With that, he turned and headed towards the door, only stopping to turn back when Makoto called out to him.

“Rin, wait! Where are you going?

“Oh yeah, I promised I'd help you out as well, didn't I?” said Rin, pretending that he'd forgotten. Then he turned to look at Sousuke and grinned; “...Hey, Sousuke? Makoto's got it bad for you. That's why he's been a flustered mess since we got here. And I know you've been dreaming about Makoto for a while, so here you go – consider yourselves officially hooked up. You're welcome!”

“Riiiin...!”

But Rin was already gone.

* * *

He flung his apartment door open triumphantly to be greeted by Natsuya sprawled out on the sofa with a beer in hand. But Rin wasn't going to let that deter him this time. He marched right across and loomed over Natsuya, a wide grin on his face.

“Rin! You're back! Here, I save you a couple of tinnies. That's what you call them in Australia, right?”

He cheerfully waved the can of beer in front of Rin's face, obviously completely unaware of what was coming. But Rin wasn't wasting any time – he took out his phone and shoved it in front of Natsuya's face, one particular number sitting on the screen.

“What's this...?” Natsuya blearily asked.

“You should know it well. This number belongs to your good friend, Nao,” said Rin, “Makoto gave it to me in exchange for some top quality help with his love life and I feel like... maybe Nao wouldn't be very pleased with how you've been behaving.”

And just like that, Rin had Natsuya's attention. He watched as Natsuya scrambled to sit up straight on the sofa, a look of fear across his face that Rin had never seen before. It was immensely satisfying.

“You wouldn't call Nao...!” Natsuya gasped.

“Huh, so you really are afraid of this guy. But yeah, I totally would. You'd better start behaving or this guy will get the full low down on exactly what you've been doing since you got back to Japan. And it seems like you don't want that,” said Rin.

Because that was where Rin was different to Makoto. In Makoto's eyes, a polite conversation could solve most problems. He would've had a nice chat with Nao, who in turn would probably have given Natsuya a stern talking to. But in Rin's case, he saw this phone number as an opportunity for blackmail. Sure, he could call Nao once and temporarily solve the problem. But having the threat of Nao on hand was more effective if he wanted Natsuya to keep dancing to the right tune.

“All right! You win...” Natsuya sighed, “I'll... I'll pack my bags.”

“You really are afraid of this guy, huh?”

“Like you couldn't imagine.”

With that, Natsuya got to his feet. He'd left a clutter of empty cans around the sofa, but it seemed like he was just going to go. The threat of Nao had perhaps been too effective. Because Rin realised that after spending several weeks failing to get rid of Natsuya, he didn't want to have his victory just like that.

Was it possible that somewhere deep down inside, Rin felt sorry for Natsuya...?

Nah! That couldn't be it! Even so, it wouldn't hurt to ask.

“Hey, I didn't say you have to clear off right away,” he said, “Where are you going to go if you leave?”

“Honestly? Probably back to Nao's,” said Natsuya, “He's good at sorting me out, but he's just... so strict, y'know? I wanted to stay with you while I was here, because I remembered how much fun you were back in Australia.”

“You thought I was fun?”

“Yeah, and you're devious as well – in a good way. You pinpointed my weakness and shot me straight through the heart. That's the attitude of a true champion, Rin Matsuoka,” Natsuya said.

Rin snorted; “Don't say stuff like shot through the heart. That makes it sound like you've fallen in love with me.”

There was a pause.

Natsuya winked.

“...Well, I'd better let you get to cleaning up your apartment.”

He turned toward the door. But before Rin knew what he was doing, he'd rushed forward and grabbed Natsuya by the arm, yanking him around to face him again. He glared up at Natsuya with fire in his eyes.

“Where do you think you're going? You can't just say cryptic shit like that and then disappear, leaving your mess behind! Even if you do go back to that Nao guy's place, I'll just call him and tell him everything you've done,” Rin demanded, getting up close to Natsuya's face, “No, you're gonna stay here and fix your mess! It's shameful to rely on that guy to whip you into shape your whole life.”

“So you're going to do it instead?” Natsuya pointed out.

He was smiling! Natsuya was actually smiling. The guy was too smarmy for his own good. Even when Rin had the edge, somehow he just couldn't beat him. Rin clicked his tongue, not realising how red his face was.

“You're really pissing me off...” he growled.

With that, Rin closed the gap between them, roughly kissing Natsuya like he felt like he'd needed to for too long. Damn, Rin hated that it meant Makoto was right about him liking this guy. But in the moment, he just didn't care. Natsuya needed to know just how much he'd riled Rin and this was the best way to do it.

The response was electric. Natsuya grabbed hold of Rin and tugged him even closer, his arms wrapping possessively around Rin's back. He moaned into the kiss and Rin could taste the cheap asahi beer on his breath, but that didn't deter him. Rin was practically grinding against Natsuya now, shoving his own hands up Natsuya's shirt.

When they broke away from the kiss, Rin's voice was low.

“You are going to stay here with me and sort yourself out... No arguments. But first we're going to clear enough of those cans off the sofa that we can fuck on it.”

“And you think I'd argue with that?”

Damn. When he put it that way, Rin had to agree that he didn't.

* * *

Rin was awoken by the sound of his phone buzzing. It took him a few seconds to realising that it was an incoming call, not his alarm. Then it took him a few more seconds to shuffle out from under a sleeping Natsuya to grab his phone from where it had been abandoned on the floor. He didn't bother talking quietly when he answered, since he knew that Natsuya could sleep through a meteor shower.

“...Hello?”

“Ah, Rin? Did I catch you at a bad time?”

It was Makoto.

“Nah, it's all good. I was just sleeping, but I should get up now,” said Rin, “What's up?”

“I was just calling to thank you,” Makoto said, “I was so flustered when you left, but... it turned out that you did the right thing. Sousuke and I got talking and it turns out that he likes me too. Who'd have guessed?”

“Hah. Well, I'd have guessed from putting up with him harping on about you so much. But you're welcome,” Rin dismissed.

“Yes, so... the two of us are going out this Friday. I really think we could have something and it's all thanks to you,” Makoto went on, “So I wanted to say thanks for that, but I also wanted to check in on your situation. Did everything get sorted with Natsuya?”

Rin looked down at the sleeping lump on the sofa, who still had one arm hung over Rin's waist. He reached a hand up to stroke through Natsuya's hair, allowing himself to smile fondly while no one was watching.

“...Yeah, I got everything sorted out with him.”


End file.
